China evacuated more than 600,000 people as the strongest typhoon on record to enter the South China Sea in May bore down on the south coast on Wednesday, causing flight and shipping delays around the region.Typhoon Chanchu, packing winds up to 106 mph, was forecast to make landfall northeast of Hong Kong in Guangdong province later on Wednesday after killing 37 people as it swept across the Philippines last weekend.Chinese state television news said some 320,000 people were evacuated from their homes along the coast of Guangdong province, while over 300,000 were moved in neighboring Fujian province. Fujian called back all ships to port, and Guangdong called back in more than 58,000 vessels as schools suspended classes, it said, adding that strong rainfalls brought by Chanchu were posing flood threats.... http://www.msnbc.msn.com

The deputy interior minister of the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia is among at least seven people killed in a car bomb attack. Dzhabrail Kostoyev was on his way to work in the main city of Nazran when his car was hit by a blast. Authorities said it may have been a suicide attack. Mr Kostoyev, who oversaw the Ingush police, had been the target of several previous assassination attempts. His two bodyguards and four civilians were also killed in the attack. It is thought the civilians were in at least one other passing car that was caught up in the explosion. "Almost nothing remains from the car that contained the explosive," a police spokesman, quoted by Itar-Tass news agency, said. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4988748.stm

Government prosecutors rewrote Enron history and bullied witnesses into backing their case against its former bosses, their defence team has argued. The claims came on the second day of closing arguments in the case against former Enron bosses Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. They are accused of trying to hide $32bn (£18bn) of debts at the firm, but deny any wrongdoing. The jury in Houston, Texas, is expected to begin deliberations on Wednesday. Energy giant Enron collapsed in 2001 when the massive debts were revealed. Thousands of people lost their jobs and investments. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4988424.stm

The Senate today agreed to exclude as many as 500,000 criminal aliens from a plan to give undocumented immigrants legal status, agreeing to compromise on a proposal that nearly killed immigration legislation last month. The Senate voted 99-0 to accept an amendment by Rep John Cornyn of Texas & Jon Kyl or Arizona to bar felons, repeat offenders & other criminal aliens from gaining legal status under a provision to give many of the 11 million immigrants illegally in the US a path to citizenship. ``We don't want people who are convicted felons, guilty of crimes, to be eligible for citizenship in this country,'' Arizona Rep John McCain said. ``At the same time we didn't want to go too far.'' The Senate is working through more than 20 amendments to an overhaul of immigration policy that would also strengthen border security & create a new guest-worker program. Notice that they use “Undocumented Immigrants” instead of Illegal Immigrants, they don’t want to upset potential voters. ...http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a1FL77QAyonA&refer=home

Indian officials have held a special screening of controversial Hollywood blockbuster The Da Vinci Code after protests by Christians. Government officials and Catholic leaders viewed the film after broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi received over 200 complaints. Mr Dasmunsi said opinions would be sent by Friday to censors who would take a final decision on the film's release. The film receives its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday. India's Central Board of Film Certification cleared the film on Monday, saying it would give it an adult rating if the film-makers agreed to a disclaimer at the start of the movie saying it was a work of fiction. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4989062.stm

Five more people have died from bird flu in Indonesia, the World Health Organization has confirmed. The deaths of the five brings Indonesia's bird flu death toll to 30. Four of the people who died lived in northern Sumatra and were from the same family. The WHO has sent a team to the area to investigate. An Indonesian health ministry official told Reuters news agency there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission in the latest cases of the H5N1 virus. In the cluster of cases in northern Sumatra, up to eight members of a family in Kubu Simbelang village, about 50km (30 miles) south of Medan, could be involved. Tests are still being carried out to see whether sick relatives also have bird flu. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4988788.stm